Psalm 146 (NRSV)
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Verse 1Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Verse 2I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Verse 3Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
Verse 4When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Verse 5Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
Verse 6who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
Verse 7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
Verse 8the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
Verse 9The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Verse 10The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
Devotion
Praise is sung, not for God’s admirable personal qualities (for example, excellent diction or flawless skin), but for what God does. The psalmist’s soul does not sing about the general attributes of godhood, but about the God of Jacob. She sings about the God who keeps faith forever. Praise is a response to the God who acts first. It is a response to the God whose power is evident in the execution of justice, the falling of manna, and the freedom of prisoners. In this way, praise songs and praise psalms are testimonies. They are wide open witnesses to facts on the ground. The psalmist is not primarily a pray-er in today’s text, but a say-er. She is singing her song to us, and beckoning the great congregation to join the refrain. Orphans, widows and strange saints alike sing the refrain. We are singing together one glorious and specific stanza in a lifelong hymn about the history of God and creation. We are bearing witness to God’s imperishable plan for the future.
Prayer
Open my eyes, O Lord, redeemer of the weak, and I shall behold your glory. Open my ears, O Lord, and I shall discern your call. Open my heart, O Lord, bring to ruin the wicked, and I shall beg your mercy. Open my lips, O Lord, free the prisoners, and I shall declare your praise. Amen.